Week-2 Recap

The feature image is of [player_tooltip player_id="99430" first="Taylor" last="Heath"] (2021) of Triton Central High School. Now that the season is underway, each week we will look back and recap the previous week’s action with a handful of storylines that stood out to us. Obviously this is a big, basketball-rich state, so we won’t be able to hit on everyone or everything that happened, but the below items were what caught our attention almost immediately from November 9 through November 14. And this week, there is a real Tiger theme to it...I promise unintentionally. BACK AT IT AGAIN A season ago, Triton Central Senior point guard [player_tooltip player_id="99430" first="Taylor" last="Heath"] found herself feeding one of the most talented Class 2A rosters in the state. She led the state in assists with 214...a 7.9 assist per game average. With the graduation of some talented 2020s, plus the loss of classmate [player_tooltip player_id="35027" first="Tenleigh" last="Phelps"] to a knee injury, the majority probably thought those numbers would go way down, and Triton Central would fall down, or even out, of the polls this season. Not so fast, says Heath, with her strong play to open the 2020-2021 campaign. In fact, she is averaging a robust 11.7 assists per game through their first three games, along with career highs in points (20.0), rebounds (5.3), and steals (4.0). She put together a much-needed 28-point, 10-assist, nine-rebound effort Thursday night in a big conference win against a young but talented Cascade team. The schedule doesn’t get much easier either, but look for her, along with Senior post [player_tooltip player_id="130351" first="Bailey" last="Stamper"], and constantly improving Sophomores [player_tooltip player_id="96081" first="Lizzie" last="Graham"] and Maddy Brown to keep the Tigers competitive throughout the season. NOT DONE YET! Back on February 29th, we all watched as the careers of two of the state’s best came to an end. [player_tooltip player_id="10560" first="Madison" last="Layden"] and [player_tooltip player_id="10564" first="Kendall" last="Bostic"] finished brilliant high school careers, accepted their diplomas, and now look forward to big things in the Big Ten. With that said, Northwestern is supposed to be done now, correct? Nope. Behind the play of Sophomore wing [player_tooltip player_id="59762" first="McKenna" last="Layden"], Senior guard Ellie Boyer, and Junior front-liner [player_tooltip player_id="128197" first="Leah" last="Carter"], these Tigers are off to a 4-0 start and looking strong once again. The younger Layden has taken the reins and become the newest playmaker for this proud program. She is averaging 20.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 9.5 assists, and 3.8 steals per game to start the season. Because of the potential Layden showed last year at times, Boyer has probably been the bigger surprise, averaging 17.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.0 steals per game, but Carter has also upped her game significantly and is a third double-digit scorer at 14.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.5 blocked shots per game. While the Tigers might lose more than a game or two this year, I wouldn’t want to mess with them come tournament time, as they are well-coached in a system they know all too well, and you know they’ll always play extremely hard. MISS OPPORTUNISTIC If you go back to our season preview of Fishers, we talked about how Senior wing [player_tooltip player_id="130404" first="Katie" last="Howard"] could have a real impact as a sniper on the wing, especially playing alongside such talented guards as [player_tooltip player_id="35013" first="Katie" last="Burton"], [player_tooltip player_id="62546" first="Audra" last="Emmerson"], [player_tooltip player_id="59775" first="Hailey" last="Smith"], and so forth on this Tiger squad. But what she did Saturday afternoon was above and beyond what I think anyone expected. Howard found the bottom of the net TEN TIMES from deep, and overall she was 10-13 from 3-point range on the day. She has carved out that exact role all season, though, and her stats back that up. Through five games, Howard is 17-38 from 3-point range, shooting a stellar 45% from outside. She has actually only attempted two shots inside the arc and another two shots from the free throw line. While she might draw a little more respect and attention from opposing coaches moving forward, she still has the potential to be huge at times for Fishers, because you just can’t defend everyone on this team well without sacrificing something else. MANY MILLENNIAL MOMENTS Last week we highlighted Roncalli Senior [player_tooltip player_id="62532" first="Madelyn" last="Bischoff"] as having reached the 1000-point mark during Week-1, but this time around there are no less than EIGHT young ladies who join her this season with surpassing such a prestigious mark in their careers. Last week saw Seniors [player_tooltip player_id="99358" first="Jade" last="Nutley"] of Madison Consolidated, [player_tooltip player_id="22680" first="Rebekah" last="Gordon"] of Heritage Hills, [player_tooltip player_id="130386" first="Kenadie" last="Fernung"] of Tri-Central, [player_tooltip player_id="130315" first="Ryin" last="Ott"] of LaPorte, and [player_tooltip player_id="99413" first="Sheridan" last="Robbins"] of Orleans all achieve that plateau. Joining them were a trio of Juniors in [player_tooltip player_id="97291" first="Alaysha" last="Brandenberger"] of Boonville, [player_tooltip player_id="97241" first="Mila" last="Reynolds"] of South Bend Washington, and [player_tooltip player_id="97261" first="Koryn" last="Greiwe"] of Columbus East. One thing is certain about this group of girls...they can fill it up when needed. Congratulations ladies!!! If we missed anyone, we apologize, but we try to monitor this as best as possible through MaxPreps and social media. Feel free to DM us @PGHIndiana to let us know when someone else gets there...or to 1500 points, 2000 points, 1000 rebounds, etc. Thanks! SHHH, DON’T TELL ANYONE I am not changing this title yet. I thought Senior wing [player_tooltip player_id="10721" first="Tyra" last="Ford"] got off to a nice start this season during Week-1, and she has always flown somewhat under the radar. But what she put together last week was even more impressive. Wednesday, Ford willed her Anderson team to a near upset of a ranked Fishers group, falling by a close 63-60 count. The IUPUI commit came through, though, scoring 37 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and collecting three steals, while also putting pressure on the Tigers by making 19 or her 22 free throw attempts and causing some foul issues along the way. The loss seemed to motivate her even more, as Friday against conference rival Richmond she exploded for 49 points and 18 rebounds against the Red Devils in a 65-54 victory. She was 17-32 from the field, but she again got to the free throw line 18 times, knocking down 15 of them. On the season, Ford is your early-season scoring leader, averaging 37.5 points per game through four games. She’s also shooting a solid 47% from the field and an impressive 81% from the charity stripe. Additionally, she’s averaging 9.3 rebounds and 4.0 steals per game, so she’s doing it at the defensive end as well. What a nice start to the year!!!